Diary of an AnBu
by LuneCramoisie
Summary: The story before the story. Mostly story with some drabble. Pure informational with some story behind it. The 7th Raikage. Short prequel to "The Blood of Children".
1. Chapter 1: How it began

A/N: I own everyone that you will see in this fanfic. : So far.

* * *

_Sometimes, the world is fair._

_Sometimes, it is not._

_Sometimes good people are rewarded for doing good things._

_Sometimes bad people are punished for their deeds._

_Sometimes good people suffer for no reason at all._

_Sometimes bad people win in the end._

_Sometimes people who you are trying to protect die._

_And sometimes, you who are trying to protect them pay the price for letting them die, even if there was nothing you could do._

_I learned this a long time ago. When I was still a child I knew that the world was not fair. I knew I had done nothing to be born weak and sickly. I knew that my sister should have been punished far more severely for leeching at my strength, but I still loved her. She was my sister; my twin. What else could I have done? I could have killed her, I know, and that would have saved me so much grief and trouble, but I didn't. Because I still believed that there was some good left in her rotten core._

_How wrong I was._

* * *

The AnBu returned late that evening, giving their reports to their Kage and then setting off across the rooftops for the bath-house. It didn't matter to them that the owner of the bath-house sniffed disapprovingly and shunted them off to a tiled room off of the main baths. It was lined with chest-high stalls against one side where spouts protruded from the wall.

It didn't matter that gore was spattered over the armor that they shucked. They stripped off their uniforms and took off their masks, making sure their weapons were out of the way of the water. Scars littered their flesh, though not a one of them was older than twenty-one.

It didn't matter to them that they were men and women all together. No man looked over at his team-mate, though her luxurious form was bare. And no woman chanced a giggle at her naked colleague. Instead, they wordlessly turned on the spouts and let the hot water spill over them, washing the blood from their scarred hides.

With all the water running, there was a small rose-tinged pool around the drain. Blood stained the white tiles pink; a nightmare to clean for the staff later on. They would be by in the morning, not wanting to run into any of the elite shinobi.

In the morning, the owner of the bath-house would carp to the Raikage about all the hot water the AnBu had used and then demand compensation. The Raikage would then say that all the "compensation" the owner needed was that the AnBu were removing incredibly dangerous enemies so that everyone might sleep well at night… except for the AnBu. They hardly ever slept; and when they did, they always had nightmares about what they had done.

It was a good hour before the first spout was turned off, soon followed by silence as all of the water ceased to run. The six of them reached for towels and proceeded to dry off. One winced and looked over her shoulder when her towel had a fresh red streak on it.

"Tora-san, you're hurt." The woman twisted to see the jagged slash above the base of her spine.

"I never noticed," the woman said. Her team-mate laid a glowing hand over the injury, healing it in a breath.

"You're going to bleed out one day if you don't take stock of your wounds before you head for the baths," another one of her colleagues said, pulling on a clean shirt over his still-damp chest.

"I know, Mori." The woman who had been injured did up the front of her shirt. "I just get so… in the heat of battle…. I just forget." She didn't need to explain. The others understood all to well. That was why they cleaned up together; just for that silent understanding while they relaxed their minds to assimilate back into normal life until their next mission.

* * *

Dressed once again and with their filthy old clothes and armor slung over shoulders or under arms, they departed for the homes they occupied when not working.

Two of them, Mori and Tora, traveled the same dark street in the first hour of the morning. They walked in silence without exchanging words. They might as well have been in different universes for all that they acknowledged each others' presence. But that was how it was. They needed to concentrate on forgetting what they had done not even six hours ago. There was a reason that most AnBu quit or killed themselves within the first three years of service. The woman walking on that road had served seven years, the man five. They were among the best, and they had paid dearly for that position.

After a while, the man nodded to the woman and headed off down a side-street. He would be welcomed by his sister and brother-in-law, bursting with news of the antics of their toddler son. The woman as well would be welcomed and plied with stories of her cousin's firstborn baby. Her mother would hug her and ask if she was hungry. She would reply that she wasn't and just wished to go to bed. Her mother would watch her somewhat nervously as she strolled off down the hall to her room. It was the same thing every time.

But this time was different. A buxom woman sat outside on the porch of the ancestral home of the Torakiba Clan, situated on a good-sized piece of land. She gazed up at the stars through a rarely-clear sky. "Ja, Kurai," she said, getting up.

"Sensei," the AnBu smiled slightly in greeting, going up to meet her aunt.

"I'm not your sensei anymore. Didn't we go over this? I haven't been your sensei for seven years," the elder woman said sternly, but her tone was playful and soft. She looked her niece over, reddish-brown eyes unreadable.

"You took a hit." Kurai shrugged off her aunt's worried tone.

"It was just a slash and Shizuka took care of it, anyway. What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you were doing." With anyone else, Kurai would probably have knocked them over and yelled at them for pretending to care. But this was _Inazuma_. She'd been an AnBu. She knew what it was about. Now as the Raikage, she'd been making rounds and having chats with other members of the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai.

"You… know how it is…" Kurai said slowly. "It's hard to talk about. Impossible, really. I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Inazuma said sternly. "Look, you missed some blood on your cheek." Kurai flinched, hand jumping to her face but it came away clean. "If you were fine you wouldn't be twitching." Kurai glared at her aunt.

"I would just like to get some sleep, thank you," she growled, brushing past and disappearing into the house.

"You're a bad liar, Kurai!" Inazuma called after her. "I know that AnBu don't sleep!" Under her breath, she added, "They can't."

* * *

Kurai tried to sleep, she really did. She would try every few months are so, just to see if she could. She would wake up ten minutes later after nightmares with her throat sore from screaming. Then someone would come in to see if she was all right. There would be apologies and promises that it was only a dream and peace would be restored. She sat in the large window, staring up at the moon and savoring the chill night air against her skin.

She held out her hand, flexing her fingers and watching the claws shoot out. Her own AnBu gloves lacked finger-tips so that she didn't ruin them when her claws went through the tough fabric. _I had no idea my skin was so pale, _she ruminated. Her bare arms practically glowed in the moonlight, so often hidden beneath blood and the cover of night.

She ran her fingers through her thick back hair, wondering absently if she should cut it, as it went past her waist. _Plenty of women have long hair in the AnBu,_ she decided. _If I just keep braiding it, it should present no problem. _She chose to ignore how just that day something had grabbed onto her ponytail and slashed her across the back. It wouldn't happen again.

* * *

When the sun was in the sky and just barely visible as a glow through the clouds, the inhabitants of Kumogakure went about their daily business. Kurai hadn't slept a wink, instead preferring to meditate and work on the skill of Forgetting. She dressed herself in her usual black shorts and short black dress trimmed in white: the Torakiba Clan colors with the yin-yang symbol emblazoned on the back of a sleeveless black coat she donned. She hated the flashiness, but couldn't find the energy to go out and buy different apparel as she spent so much time in her AnBu uniform.

_Up, or down? _She wondered, staring into the mirror after whisking the curtain off of it. She usually kept it covered as sometimes she just couldn't bear to look at herself._Maybe… down? _Her reflection offered no help, instead revealing a slightly depressed-looking woman who was hardly more than a girl at just barely twenty-one. Her birthday had been the previous day and she had completely forgotten. _Down. _She decided, blowing irritably at her bangs that fell over her right eye.

With hardly a word to anyone and only a quick pat on the head to the two-year-old Yasutora, she was out the front door and striding off into the center of town. She knew where the others would be. They would hate to be alone with themselves for more than six hours and need confirmation that there were others just like them.

She found three of them in their usual place at the curry house, going over the events in the newspaper over bowls of the spiciest curry that the restaurant had to offer. "Oi! Tora!" Mori, the man from the night before, waved her over to sit with them. It was him, Getsu the blonde weapon's specialist of their squad, and the pale and quiet medical ninja Shizuka.

"You know it's 'Kurai' when we're off-duty, right?" she pulled out a chair at their table and signaled to a waiter that she wanted what her team-mates were eating.

"You are strangely formal, yeah," Shizuka observed, chin resting on her laced fingers. She chose to only have one eye visible, a curtain of ink-black hair obscuring the other one. Her evident eye was a vivid violent than contrasted strongly with her hair and white skin. She wore the sleeveless turtleneck that was part of their uniform with shorts underneath an off-both-shoulders deep red dress that covered her wrists and had a slit to her waist on one side. "Weren't you cell-mates?"

"Aww, but you're forgetting that Karai Kurai was a loser back then," Mori, Katsuo Fukamori, said, grinning patronizingly at Kurai. She hit him with her spoon as her food came. The waiter scuttled off in alarm at their violence. In places like that, the four could almost forget what they did for a living and lose themselves in laughter at the slightest things. Getsu cracked up when Katsuo caught the spoon and used it to steal some of Kurai's curry.

"Ha, you want it back?" he taunted, pointing at his full mouth and teasing her. Kurai turned red and kicked him savagely under the table, making him yelp in pain.

"You're disgusting, yeah," Shizuka said, eyebrows raised in amusement. That was the strange thing about her, the others had decided. She couldn't smile even if she were faking. When things had settled back down again and they chatted aimlessly, a little boy shrieked, "Katsu-ji!"

Something small with a shock of red hair bounced out of the street and latched onto Katsuo's leg. "Hey, there, squirt!" Katsuo set the three-year-old on his knee. "What're you doing here?"

"Mama's shoppin'!" the little boy said, green eyes big in his small face.

"And Mama doesn't like Yuuki running off when Mama's shopping," a woman stomped over, bearing the same stone-colored hair and eyes as her brother. "Yuuki, what've I told you about running off?" Yuuki, still on his uncle's knee, gave his mother an identically clueless look to the one that Katsuo was giving her.

Getsu and Kurai stifled chuckles behind the napkin dispenser. Shizuka's eyebrow were at different altitudes in the way that she expressed laughter. "Listen to your ma," Katsuo told Yuuki seriously. "She knows best, okay?" Yuuki bobbed his head, thumb in his mouth.

"Oooooh, kettle calling the cauldron black, Katsuo?" Kurai asked wickedly. The man acted offended.

"I assure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Weren't you just saying the other day-" Getsu began slyly, but Katsuo clapped his hands over his ears and said loudly, "LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU CAN YOU SEE THAT I'M NOT LISTENING?"

"You're all a bunch of children," Katsuo's elder sister, Haruka, said crossly, hands on her hips. "A bunch of overgrown children making a scene."

"Nee-chan…" Katsuo whined.

"Not another word! You're corrupting my poor baby. Yuuki, let's go!" she plucked the child from Katsuo's knee and balanced him on her hip, going on about "overgrown children with swords".

There was a space of silence. Suddenly, it was broken by Shizuka going, "Overgrown children with swords, un? That's a new one, yeah." And they all broke into laughter, save for Shizuka, of course.

"You should've seen the look on your face!" Getsu howled, holding her sides while her face went red. "You looked like a toad trapped in a bathtub!" Kurai nodded in agreement and struggled to breathe around her merriment.

"The nerve of you two!" Katsuo crossed his arms over his chest, head sinking into the collar of his gray quilted jacket. "You're with me, aren't you, Shizuka?" The one-eyed woman answered, quite frankly, "I'm certainly not with so I must be against you, yeah."

Getsu fell out of her chair and Kurai had to help her back up before someone tripped over her.

"Heh… kids." Kurai chuckled. "Can you _imagine_having one of your own?" Getsu groaned and covered her eyes.

"Please don't talk about that. Children are a pain in the ass."

"I dunno. Sometimes they're awful cute," Katsuo said, waggling his eyebrows at the women at his table. Shizuka kicked him.

"Just more stress, yeah," the quiet woman said. "But, still… are we going to be doing this forever, un?"

"Still in the ANBU when we're thirty, you mean?" Kurai asked darkly. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised I'm still alive after seven years of this."

"Same here," Katsuo sighed. "But I always thought that someday, if I'm still going, I'd retire and settle down and stuff."

"I would like that as well," Shizuka put in her two cents. "Family life is nice and peaceful, sometimes."

"That_does _sound like a nice plan," Kurai admitted, Getsu nodding in agreement. They lapsed into silence, lost in thought.

"So, anyway," Katsuo said airily, attempting to change the subject. "Shizuka, why do you talk like that, anyway?"

"Like what, un?" Shizuka blinked at him, non-plussed.

"Like_that_. With your 'yeah's and 'un's? Is it a dialect or something? Certainly from no region I've ever heard of."

"Etto…" Shizuka said, trailing off. That stopped the laughter as they all watched Shizuka intently. No one knew much about the kunoichi. She possessed amazing poison abilities and claimed she was from a tiny non-shinobi country on the northern border of Earth Country and had been home-taught. She'd been taken on, of course, as there was no proof against her but none for her. She'd past the chuunin exams and the jounin exam in the same month, making it to ANBU within four years of being in Kumogakure.

She unlaced her fingers and laid her hands in her lap, staring down at them. "Ano… Aniki talked like this, yeah," she said softly. "I respected Aniki and I wanted to be like him. I had no idea I'd mimicked his speech-patterns, un."

"Hey, don't worry about it, okay?" Getsu said, patting the other woman's shoulder and shooting Katsuo a dirty look. "If anyone tries to make a henge like you, we'll know they're a fake, then."

"Mm-hm. So, what have the rest of you planned for today?" Shizuka changed the subject awkwardly, but no one mentioned it.

"I'm going to see if I can sleep," Kurai said.

"You're still trying?" Getsu looked horrified. The Torakiba shrugged her slim shoulders.

"It'd be nice. It's just… the dreams, you know?"

"Stay away from sleep," Katsuo warned. "It's bad for you."

"Actually, sleep is essential for maintaining physical and mental health," Shizuka corrected.

"But we're not exactly mentally healthy, now, are we?" Getsu breathed.

"Please don't say it like that," Kurai begged, voice suddenly hoarse. "It's just a fancy of mine that we can go back to being normal and sleeping, okay?"

"I'd like that to happen, too," Katsuo's comforting hand completely covered hers. She looked up at him, seeing her same hunted look in his eyes and in the eyes of Shizuka and Getsu.

"Anyway-" Shizuka stood up abruptly, almost knocking over her chair. What she lacked in tact she made up for in being a fearsome shinobi. "I've got laundry to do." No one questioned her. Her own clothes were specially treated in various poisonous compounds so that they didn't melt off of her person when she used her abilities.

"Grocery shopping," Getsu said apologetically, collecting her bag and scuttling out of there right after Shizuka. In the end, it was just Katsuo and Kurai left with the bill.

"So… wanna hang out?" It was later, the both of them managing to skip out without paying. They were making their way down the main avenue, the sky a dreary gray and a chill wind blowing, but most of Kumogakure's inhabitants were out and striking deals.

"Like we're just regular shinobi on our day off?" Kurai asked. Katsuo shrugged.

"Heard there was a new movie out."

"Wait a second…" Kurai looked up at Katsuo, appalled. "Are you_hitting _on me?"

"Maaaaaybeeeee…"

"You're very bad at it."

"Thank you."

"It_wasn't _a compliment. You're not going to pick up any girls if you go about it like that."

"I'm not trying to pick up 'chicks'. I'm trying to pick up _you_."

Kurai laughed, Katsuo raising his eyebrows in an unspoken question. "With you? I have trouble thinking of you as anything but the kid in my genin team that I beat the shit out of." It was Katsuo's turn to be appalled.

"WHAT? That was eight years ago, Karai Kurai! How can you still be on about that? How do you know that _I _don't still think of _you_ as the scrawny little brat that got sick every time she took a bath?"

"Because_you_ are asking me out, fool!" Kurai couldn't stop laughing. "Ahahaha... anyway, I'm going to go and try to sleep. You can try your luck on some passing flirt. Ja, matane!" she called over her shoulder.

Katsuo stood where she had left him. He sighed. "Oh, why kami, why?" he asked the sky dramatically. "Why must she scorn me so?"

"_Because you're a fool!_" an ethereal voice said. He spotted Kurai a little way down the street, hands cupped over her mouth.

"Hey! That was just mean!" Katsuo cried but Kurai just ran off, cackling like a mad hen.

Katsuo smiled crookedly as she was lost to sight amidst the townspeople. He ran a hand through his stone-colored hair and adjusted his Kumogakure hitai-ate. "I'm no fool," he said, even though he was sure that time that she couldn't hear him. "I'm no fool because I'm not giving up on you."

* * *

A/N: Holy crap. And I started this about two days after finishing The Blood of Children. I LOVE KURAI AND KATSUO FLUFF!!! And Shizuka… you know who "Aniki" is, right? –wink- check out my dA page. She's in my gallery. BUT SHE'S NOT THE SHIZUKA OF MY OTHER FANFIC ON DA: Shizuka no Doku. No. She's my DeidaraxOC character. Getsu I just made up on the spot. I'm starting to really like her. And I think that I may be able to finish this fanfic as well. KURAI IS MAGIC. SHE LET'S ME FINISH HER STORIES. Except for her original one, Cloud Country… I can never get up the snuff to write for her. Maybe I'm destined to write her as an adult…? I'M SORRY I JUST HAD TO PUT IN YUUKI. We all know how this ends if you've read my other fic, The Blood of Children. Just toodle on over there right now, okay? There's a good dear. And some translation notes:

Aniki: Honored Elder Brother

Karai Kurai: this is a play on words. "Kurai" is her name, while "Karai" means hot or spicy in reference to food. XD

Ja, matane: "So, I'll see you around".

Katsu-ji: Uncle Katsu

Bye!


	2. Chapter 2: Kissu

It was three days later, two AnBu waiting in the treetops, invisible amongst the foliage. "I see the target." One AnBu – a man judging by his build- nodded and spoke into his intercom: "Gotcha. Circle-four six o'clock and lunge."

"Roger that," his partner responded. That AnBu's physique was slight with a tiny waist, marking her as female. Her mask sported tiger-stripes and slitted eyes; her team-mate's the savage grin of a wolf. "Birdy Five has knuckle-duster, left paw."

"I copy. Any other presents?"

"Frog-sticker, inside pocket. Two fingers' length, give or take."

"Move when the birdy sings."

"Tickle the birdy?"

"Tickle the birdy."

A shuriken whizzed over the head of a dark-haired man below the vantage points of the two AnBu. He was at the head of a column of foot-soldiers and fifteen shinobi, all guarding a kago. Their target was inside.

The man screamed and threw himself to the ground, creating instant pandemonium. The AnBu went straight to work. They would have preferred to use a Silent Homicide technique, but that was difficult in the midst of fifty people. Their best bet would be to kill them all off. It sounded difficult, but you must realize that the Tiger- and Wolf-masked shinobi were among the best in their class. They didn't fail.

The column of soldiers and the fifteen hired ninjas were dead within three minutes. The two AnBu wiped off their swords, looking around warily. "Oi, birdy." The man who had first screamed and twitched, pretending to be a corpse. He got up, watching warily as the Tiger AnBu approached him. She flicked him a gold coin. "We expect good work in the future. Is that clear?"

"Oh, yessir… I mean, yes ma'am!" he said nervously. He decided that biting the coin in their presence to see if it was real would be rude.

"Then get out of my sight." He happily complied, running for all he was worth.

The Wolf AnBu tore aside the blinds of the kago, sword raised. He faltered, then swore vividly. "Damn those bastards! It's a_dummy._" He ripped off the head for emphasis, stuffing falling out of it.

"They must be watching," the Tiger said cautiously, scanning the trees and tensing her legs to jump.

"No. I would've sensed them and you would've smelled them. It's some of that new technology." He plucked a black button from the dummy's rich robes and destroyed it between two gloved fingers. "They know where we are. If we go right now we'll be fine if we take the long way."

"We have to hurry, then," the Tiger sheathed her sword with a sharp_ching_. "We got blood on ourselves. If they have dogs they'll find us."

"That_damn_ birdy. I'm going to kill him."

"No time. I can hear them. There must've been another party coming behind because they knew this would happen. Hayaku!"

One moment they were standing in the road, the next they were gone with no sign but the carnage that they had been there.

* * *

The two kept up a swift pace even for shinobi all that day. After an hour or two they would feel safe, but then the baying of hounds could be heard quickly approaching.

"How can they still be following us?" the Wolf demanded, taking off his mask and wiping sweat from his face. His team-mate also ripped off her mask and unzipped her vest, flapping her sleeveless turtleneck to cool off.

"This is ridiculous!" she cried, flushed from the heat of exertion and the warmer territory they had been chased into. "They're always heading us off whenever we try to go back! They _know_ where we're going. They _knew _we'd be there. That stupid birdy… he must've ratted us out!"

"They're using summons, I can tell. I lost track of how far they've pushed us." The Wolf -Katsuo- spread a map out on a broad rock the same color as his hair. The Tiger –Kurai- leaned in for a closer look.

"I recognize these plants. We're fifty miles south-west of Kumogakure and we started out thirty miles south of it only this morning."

"That leaves us in northern Fire Country," Katsuo observed. "Too bad we don't have time to pay a visit to Ichiraku's in Konohagakure."

"Maybe another time. The sun's going down." Kurai pointed up through the dense foliage to a miraculously clear sky already starting to turn orange with the dying light of day. "We can wait and double-back past them in the dark if we don't collapse."

"Soldier pill?" Katsuo offered, pulling a small roll of white paper out of his pocket and unfolding it to reveal three small round objects.

"Thanks. Now, I'm thinking instead of the twenty we've been doing, we should go-"

"As fast as we can?" Katsuo popped one of the pills in his mouth and swallowed, shuddering as the temporary stimulants coursed through his bloodstream.

"Sounds good. These the twenty-four hour ones?" Kurai gulped down her own pill, adjusting her short-sword across back.

Her team-mate pulled his mask down over his face as the Tiger re-zipped her vest.

"Yep. I can't afford more than one of those three-day ones. What's the point of wasting your money on seventy-two hours when you only need twenty-four?"

"I hope you're right. Here they come. Keep in sight, okay?"

"Hah. You can see me but I can't see you in the dark. All right, let's go!" They disappeared , not even leaving footprints in the deep loam as the snuffling and baying came closer.

* * *

It was a full-moon that night, for better or for worse. Clouds occasionally passed over it, leaving the world in perfect blackness for a few moments before being brightly lit up with silver. There was a sharp intake of breath and a crunch. It set off a fresh symphony of baying and shouts from too close for comfort.

"Damn it… sorry," Kurai whispered. They had had to stop going through the trees, not wanting to waste their chakra as it seemed they would have to fight their way out. Kurai had managed to put her foot through a blackberry bramble.

"They'll find us anyway. We're just prolonging it. Hold still." Katsuo planted his hands on his team-mate's slim waist and lifted her straight out of the bramble. "Kami you're heavy."

"Shut up. Have you got any extra bandages? I don't want to bleed everywhere." Her eye's glowed eerily in the dark, reflecting back every fraction of moonlight on the world.

"Yeah. Here. We'll pause for a moment and collect our wits."

Kurai accepted the extra roll of bandages and peeled off her boot, slick with sweat and blood. She wrapped the clean white gauze around her shin, bleeding from a multitude of small scratches and punctures. The pain didn't faze her. She'd had to work through far worse. "You're leg looks like freakin' raw meat."

"Shut up. What do we do now?"

Katsuo turned his head, eye glittering through the eye-slits in his mask. "Fake our deaths and move on, I guess. We can't outrun them. This is a very sad day for the supposed best two of the ANBU."

"Hush…" Kurai tensed, shifting her mask so that she could scent the breeze. Precious seconds passed, the sounds of trackers growing louder. "I can smell a river. It must be the Nari River that runs past Kumogakure. I'd say we're about twenty-miles south now."

"So we basically float away on the river?" Katsuo couldn't quite see what she was getting at."

"No. C'mon."

She took off, making not a sound though she stepped through dry leaves. She seemed to be mde completely out of shadow, save for her glowing eyes through the eyeholes of her mask. Katsuo could soon hear the river as well after a few minutes. He was just about to demand that the Tiger explain herself when she jumped in, fully submerging herself in the icy water. She surfaced and gasped, "Come on! Get your whole body in. Cut yourself while you're at it. Our pursuers are south-west and that's the direction the river flows in. The blood in the water will confuse them. We can try to get away while we're at it."

"You're brilliant," Katsuo said frankly, sliding in after her and shuddering at the melt-water that came from the northern mountains. It quickly soaked through his vest to his skin and he made sure to hold his weapons clear.

He sliced a vein open in his arm, his blood making a dark cloud against the silver of the moonlit water. "Now let's go," Kurai advised, hair plastered to her head and back. She stood up on top of the water, using chakra to stay buoyant. She shook herself like a miffed cat, water spraying back into the river without dampening the banks. Katsuo followed suit, but less efficiently.

They were on their way again quickly, the sounds of anybody following them growing fainter. They paused for a rest by an old road-side shrine, bowing respectfully to the statue of the shrine's guardian spirit. "I think we lost them," Kurai panted. She shivered in the cold. "And the rain should be here about-" a slight misting fell from the now completely dark and clouded sky. "-now. We can take refuge and-" Katsuo tensed suddenly, whole body rigid. Kurai was instantly on the alert as well. She looked around, eyes wide in the dark. "What-"

Katsuo didn't bother with pleasantries, simply slinging an arm around his smaller companion and throwing the both of them into the shrine, sliding the door shut with a sharp snap. "What the hell?" Kurai squeaked. It was cramped in that tiny space with no room to sit up before the ancient rice-paper window betrayed them. They were flattened together on the floor, the shrine no more than a tiny closet with six feet of length, two feet of height before the window, and approximately eighteen-inches in width. Kurai looked up cross-eyed at her team-mate, their noses touching. "You have three seconds before I scream 'rape', you bastard!" she hissed, fangs bared. Katsuo made a frantic shushing noise, apparently unconscious of the fact that he was flattening the slim Tiger.

Kurai was uncomfortably aware of how they were pressed together and how his mask was digging into her collarbone. And how it was hard to breathe with someone weighing sixty more pounds than she did on top of her. And how one of his hands was where it should _not_have been. And that stifling feeling of someone that was not she masking both of their chakras-

"Three seconds!" she squealed, face turning red. Her mask was at a funny angle so that it only covered one of her eyes. Katsuo's mask was flipped to the back of his head, the cord running under his nose and his armguards digging into her stomach. "That's it! Three-two-" She was silenced not by a blade, but by Katsuo's lips connecting with hers, making speech irrelevant.

_Oh. My. God. _She thought. _I am going to kill him. He is a dead man._ But while the majority of her brain was outraged, a small part was rather enjoying the experience. _Danger, suspense, being freezing cold and wet… well, not so cold anymore. _When she fought to speak, he deepened the kiss. It seemed to go on forever until they broke apart. Kurai stared at Katsuo, eyes wide and staring and even he looked shocked at what he'd done. He was about to speak but Kurai shook her head, jerking her head in the direction of the door and mouthing, _I can hear them._ It was true. She could smell them as well. Wet fur was prominent, as well as the scent of lit cigarettes.

"Damn! Where'd those bastards go?" said an angry voice.

"Arrrr…" came a growl, deep and a guttural. "One's a Torakiba, I can smell her. The other is male. Both young, maybe late teens to early twenties. They're tired and just about to expire, too."

_Summoning,_Katsuo mouthed and Kurai nodded, listening keenly. She spun a quick genjutsu; just enough to make the door to the shrine appear open all the way with no places to hide.

They could hear the patter of heavy paws and a number of lighter feet. There were a multitude of growls that sounded about five inches away. "The Rain Lord is safe. That's about all that matters." There was a snarl and scream.

"FOOL! If we don't get them now they'll just come back again later!" that was the voice that had growled at first.

_Big… giant-assed summoning,_ Kurai thought, her trained and disciplined mind running in circles in terror at the scent and sound. She could almost feel the giant heart beating within that beast.

"Ookami-sama, they're not here," another man tried to calm the summoning down. Kurai and Katsuo could hear sharp intakes of breath. Apparently, they were all afraid of the summoning.

"Then let's go. This is a waste of time. But if they come after the Rain Lord again, I am crunching all of your head in my jaws."

Kurai could hear them receding, their footsteps making slight _plop plop _sounds in the muddy ground. _They're gone, _she mouthed at Katsuo. He nodded and shifted so that when she drew up her knees, he could sit at the other end of the shrine. Kurai said up, massaging her bruised ribs.

"So… what was that about?" she asked, masking the trembling in her voice by fiddling with her mask. Katsuo stared at her stupidly.

"What was what about?"

"That…_kissing_, fool."

"Oh!" he said. _Oh god, he actually FORGOT. _Kurai thought, heart sinking. _I'm partnered with an idiot._ "Just… you wouldn't be quiet," he said frankly.

"You were _on top of me,_ Katsuo." She told him flatly, stripping off her armguards and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Just… let's not make it awkward, okay?" Katsuo actually looked embarrassed as he looked away. Kurai scowled and stared out of the rice-paper screen out into the perfectly black night. She could still smell the rain and hear it pattering on the roof. She was cold, but she didn't want to admit it. Instead, she said, "Let's just wait here until the rain stops. The report to the Raikage can wait."

"Sensei's gonna be steamed when she hears about this," Katsuo sighed, running fingers through his gray hair. "We got scared by a couple of half-assed trackers and a summoning."

"Shut up," Kurai ordered wearily. "We can think about that later."

* * *

A/N: YOSH! My first time writing romance. :O Good grief it's hard. I am actually going to TRY to have longer chapters for this series. I'm only sorry I won't be writing a whole lot about Suzume, Megumi, and Haruki and the gang. So, some of you may not have read my future generation fanfic. If so, you can or cannot. There are HUGE spoilers in there for this fanfic. But if you made it through "The Blood of Children"… OSU! ANATA WO AISHITEMASUYO!

Kago: Thing of a litter (like what sultans were carried on) only more like a basket carried between two runners. Wikipedia it if you must.

Hayaku: "Hurry!" Or "Quickly!"

And I've added code. That bit when they're talking about the birdy you should be able to figure out. A "birdy" is an informant. And the thing with "circle four" is messed-up fencing patois.

I'd like some ideas as to how this should all end. I have another fanfiction in the queue (where Haruki, Suzume, and Megumi and the rest come back and we see Shizuka again). Should the end be Katsuo's and Inazuma's death, or should it go on longer? I plan to write that part sooner or later, but I'd REALLY like to get the new fanfic up and running. And I think I should make it out that Shizuka dies. Yes, I'm evil, aren't I? But she will die sooner or later. I'm sorry, but… Shizuka was always a little lost after Aniki died. She bounced from profession to profession, spending time in the Akatsuki, Cloud, then the Akatsuki again. I can't even begin to impress upon you the tragedy of Shizuka's character. And! Inazuma will have her own fanfic someday, never fear. I think it will be her younger days in the AnBu, and we'll see Itachi and Kakashi AND Orihime –cough- I mean –cough- Kushina and Minato in it. So, that's it for now. Ja, matane! 


	3. Chapter 3: Dinner ain't free

The soft pattering of the rain was soothing and the cramped shrine grew warm from their combined body-heat in such a small space.

Something small and cold dropped onto Kurai's nose. She twitched, but did not wake. Another cold thing splashed on her closed eyelid and she sat up with a start, reaching for her sword but instead slamming her elbow into the shrine wall. She swore, rubbing her elbow and looking around. _So last night wasn't a dream._ There was a leak in the roof and water had collected, dripping right onto her face. Katsuo was right opposite her, head back and his mouth slightly open. He was fast asleep. Asleep… "I… slept?" she murmured. "No way. No nightmares, no nothing. It's morning, so it must've been at least six hours." _Damn I feel good! _It was a giddy sensation, her senses all naturally refreshed and strangely at peace.

"Hoi… Katsu!" she whispered. Katsuo didn't move. She kicked him and he tried to jump to his feet. His head connected solidly with the ceiling and he went down again, cursing and clutching his bruised cranium. Kurai shrieked as one hundred and sixty pounds of pure muscle and man came crashing down on her. She jerked the door open, scrambling out and falling in the mud.

"Ohayou, Karai Kurai. What're you doing on the ground?" Katsuo asked sleepily, rubbing his head. Kurai had landed face-down in the muck. She levered her upper half out of the mud, her entire front covered in the stuff. She spat out a mouthful and croaked, "I'm going to kill you."

* * *

They made it back without further incident, giving their report directly to the Raikage. "You fell asleep." Inazuma repeated flatly. "On the job."

"Won't happen again, Raikage-sama," Katsuo replied breezily.

"And why are you covered in mud, Tora?" Kurai flushed scarlet. She'd managed to wash the worst off of her face, but some of it had gotten into her hair and then dried in ridiculous spikes.

"I fell, Raikage-sama," she answered tightly.

Inazuma leaned back in her giant chair; hers and the reflections of the two ANBU before her were reflected a thousand times over in the mirrored office. She fixed a stern look on her ageless face and pursed her lips, but was actually trying her hardest not to laugh. Oh how far her students had fallen! Proud and beautiful Kurai, charming and handsome Katsuo… _It's a match made in heaven,_ she thought with a snort. _Oh my. But, they managed to escape from the boss Summoning of all wolf Summonings… they're smart together, that's for sure. But it must've been so awkward! I've never seen Kurai blush like that!_

"You may go and clean up. You won't be given any mission for the rest of this week," she straightened her papers and nodded to the two. "You are dismissed. The AnBu showers are open, by the way. You should really get cleaned up." If possible, Kurai's face had gotten even redder and Katsuo went cross-eyed for a moment. They were gone in a flash. When she was sure they were far away, Inazuma burst out laughing. She pounded the table with her fists, hooting and cackling like a howler monkey. _That was priceless! Too good a chance to resist. _She took deep breaths to compose herself, then linked her hands behind her head and leaned back in her chair. "I love my job."

* * *

"Oi! Where are you going? The bath-house is _that_way." Katsuo pointed. Kurai's mouth was a thin white line in her face, her lips pressed tightly together and her jaw set at a grim angle.

"Are you trying something, Rock-head?" she asked, her voice laden with harmful patience. Katsuo stared at her stupidly.

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"I'M NOT BEING IN THE SAME ROOM WITH YOU NAKED YOU MORON!"

Passersby stared and scuttled out of the way. "It never bothered you before! We've been doing missions together for _years,_ you banshee!" Katsuo shouted back.

"But that was before you tried something _on _a freaking mission where we were _very close _to getting killed!" Kurai was going red in the face. They stood nose to nose, yelling their heads off. A few members of the civilian law-keeping force considered asking the two AnBu to not make a scene in broad daylight, but decided against it as they didn't like the threat of castration that the woman had hurled at the man.

"WELL I'M SORRY!" Katsuo bellowed. "PARDON ME FOR TRYING TO SAVE OUR SKINS!"

"YOU DON'T MEAN IT!" Kurai roared back, standing on her toes. "APOLOGIZE PROPERLY!"

"WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? BEG FOR FORGIVENESS?!?!?"

Kurai took a few steps back. Very calmly, as if she had not being screaming her lungs out a few seconds before, she replied, "You can buy me dinner." Katsuo opened his mouth to make a sharp retort before his brain processed what she had said.

"I… what?" Kurai turned on her heel and called over her shoulder, "You can pick me up at seven tomorrow. _Don't be late_. Ja, matane."

"Umm… sir?" one of the law-keepers asked, looking nervous. "Sir, peopled are unnerved by-"

"Well I'll be damned," another one said, looking impressed. "Wasn't that Kurai Torakiba, the Raikage's niece? Nice goin'!"

"Tomorrow at seven," Katsuo repeated, making his way toward the baths. Suddenly, he grinned broadly. "Yes! I am _so_smooth."

She sank gratefully into the hot water after she'd stripped off her gory and bloody armor. _Now THIS is paradise._She thought lazily. _Sleep, bath, and food. _She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so at peace. The birds were out, the sky was amazingly clear, and the day was slightly humid after the night's rain. "Oh, what've I gotten myself into?" she said out loud to the ceiling. "Dinner… with Katsuo? What was I _thinking_? It's a date! I CAN'T date, especially not someone in my squad." She growled in annoyance and submerged completely under the bathwater.

_What made me do that?_ She wondered. _The Kiss? I admit that was rather nice… a little TOO nice… but it was just the adrenaline and lack of oxygen, I think. _She didn't believe that logical part of her brain at the moment. She opened her eyes underwater and blinked; her blood a dull roar in her ears. _But… dating is something normal, right? _Logic was cowed under the stern glances from Emotion. _So we can be normal for an evening. He's nice enough, I guess. I haven't really spoken to him that much since we became chuunin. I was always out on missions and training my ass off…I'm not really sure how he got into the ANBU. For his Taijutsu, I guess, but kami knows he needs work on stealth and agility. _She surfaced and chuckled. _Of COURSE he does, compared to me. I'M a Torakiba. I basically part ca-_

"Kurai hurry up!" she could hear her cousin Kagemaru pounding on the door. "It's been an HOUR. I'm sure you're nice and clean by now and other people would like to take a bath."

"Keep your shirt on, Kagemaru. I don't see you up to your knees in blood and guts!" she called back, getting dressed in a fresh white yukata. She slid the door open to raise an eyebrow at her taller and older cousin. "A lady needs her beauty time."

"Doesn't seem to be doing _you _any good." He retorted, sliding past her and shutting the door with a snap. Kurai stuck her tongue out at the closed door and sauntered off, pausing to watch Manami, Kagemaru's wife, walk back and forth trying to calm a squalling Yasutora.

Manami was very pretty, many agreed, with golden hair and a heart-shaped face. At the moment, her deep brown eyes were blood-shot and she shot a desperate look at her cousin-in-law. "I don't suppose the ANBU can quiet crabby toddlers?" She cried loudly over Yasutora's amazingly strong lungs. Kurai grimaced and held out her hands for the squirming little boy.

"Oi, now, Yasu," she had to shout to be heard. "You can't be a ninja if you're so loud. You want to be in the AnBu someday, just like your big auntie Kurai, right?"

"Oh dear god _please _no." Manami muttered, massaging her temples.

"So you have to be able to get down low-" she dropped to sit on her heels suddenly. Yasu stopped crying for a split-second then started up again. "-you have to be able to get way up high-" she jumped back to a standing position, tossing her cousin's baby into the air. He stopped wailing, gaping at Kurai as she caught him, his mouth a perfect 'o'. "-you must be agile-" she did a quick jig. "-and you must be able to do _this-_" she spun around and around in a circle. "-and not get dizzy."

For a second there was total silence. Then the joyous sound of a small child's laughter rang out. "Here you go, Manami," Kurai handed Yasutora back to his stunned mother. "Remember that, okay? The Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai can even silence crying children!" she struck a pose.

"Yeah, umm… okay." Manami wandered off in a bit of a daze.

_But…_Kurai resumed her pondering. Back in the room she lived in when off-duty, she threw open the doors of the armoire. It was sadly quite empty, save for a black dress and another change of black pants and a black sleeveless turtleneck. "I have nothing to wear." She stared, mouth hanging open. "I never noticed that before. _Nothing_. Oh my god… ohmygodohmygod." She struck her forehead with her fist. "Idiot! Why do you have no clothes?"

_Because I'm always out on missions! And whenever I AM back here at the village, it's only for a day or two and I only need two outfits because I take EVERY FREAKING MISSION OH CRAP I'M A WORKAHOLIC. _She groaned and hit her head against the wall. "Okay. Maybe I can borrow something from Manami." _And have her and everyone else know you're going on a date? _It's not a date! _Whatever. Most of her stuff has elastic everywhere while she's burning off that pregnancy weight._Mother? _Oh, now that's lame. _In her inner-voice sounded both disappointed and disgusted. _Borrowing clothes from your MOTHER? You're twenty-one, sweetie. Get a wardrobe of your own._

"Oh shit…" Kurai sighed. She slipped into her usual off-duty outfit and set up an elaborate henge of a rather nondescript brunette woman in a plain blue dress. "Under-cover it is."

She was half-way across town when a voice that was familiarly hoarse called to her. "Oi, Kurai!" she didn't turn around, keeping to a sedate walk. "It's Shizuka, yeah. Ugly henge, much?" the brunette woman turned around to glare at her team-mate. For some strange reason, Shizuka actually _had _a wardrobe… if the same magenta dress and shorts could be called a wardrobe. At least she wasn't wearing something as lame as her clan colors and crest.

"Not so loud!" the disguised Kurai hissed. "I'm trying to be incognito."

"Mm-hmm. With an ugly henge? No woman is that plain, un."

"I swear. You must be bipolar or something. First you're going on about how 'formal' I am, then you go and call me ugly!" Kurai cried in mock-disgust, slinging her shopping-bags over her shoulder. Shizuka looked as if she was about to say something teasing, but then stopped. Her slim shoulders drooped.

"Ano… sometimes, when I'm not paying attention, I open my mouth and out comes Aniki, yeah." She sighed.

"You miss him a lot, hmm?"

Shizuka scowled at the ground. "Yes, I do. Aniki was everything, you know? He taught me everything and he always worked so hard to come home between missions. I loved Aniki. Once, he came straight from Rain Country in two days just to see me. Well, it turns out not _just_ to see me, as he was missing an arm, but yeah."

"How did he die?" Kurai cocked her head, curious. Shizuka, if it was possible, went even paler.

"There… was an explosion on the job, yeah," she replied airily. "He died happy, though."

The Torakiba decided not to press her friend. She'd never seen the quiet woman look so lost or uncomfortable before. "Anyway, while we're both out, would you like to grab lunch?" Kurai offered. Shizuka blinked, startled from her daze.

"Ah, no thank you. I have errands to run. But I'll see you around, yeah?" she waved and disappeared into the crowds.

_Someday, I'll really ask about her Aniki, _Kurai promised. _He must've been a great man if he had anything to do with how she is today. I'd place my life in no other medic nin's hands but hers. But... _she had a new thought. _Maybe she's ashamed of him? Naw… but she never talks about him. Though she talks LIKE him, it seems._

_Anyway…_

_I hope he's happy, wherever he is. Wish I could've met him._

She didn't know she already had, and their meeting had not been a joyous occasion.

* * *

A/N: ugh. So sorry. Just more drabble. DX

ZOMG WHO IS ANIKI!?!?!?

If you can't figure it out and have to ask me I will keel joo ded.

Sorry that this chapter is just ramble after ramble. I was trying to drag it out to AT LEAST 2,000 words. I succeeded to some extent. Just know that Kurai is confused about Katsuo and Shizuka is lost without her Aniki. WHY ARE MY CHARACTERS SO EMOTIONALLY DAMAGED OR DEAD?!?!

And… I thought I had a plot all set up, ya know? But no. It's gone. It no longer makes sense. DAMN IT SHIZUKA YOUR PRESENCE IS MESSING EVERYTYHING UP.DX But that's how it was for The Blood of Children, and that turned out well. So, ideas are welcome if there is something you would like to see. 3


	4. Chapter 4: Traitors in our midst

Ten months had passed, leading the village into chaos.

Kurai pushed her way into the Raikage's office past other anxious shinobi wanting answers. Katsuo was right in front, clearing away for his smaller team-mate and secret girlfriend. He kept a tight grip on her hand and she on his, shoving people out of the way. No one complained. They were in their AnBu uniforms, after all, and warranted respect.

When they were finally admitted into the presence of the Raikage, they were met with the sight of twenty-nine out of thirty-two AnBu force. Their presence there would make it thirty-one AnBu. Inazuma looked weary and fragile, massaging her temples with one hand as she slouched over her desk. She opened a blood-shot eye when the door closed behind her niece and Katsuo and sighed. "You're probably all wondering why I called you here, even if you were out on a mission," she said without preamble. There were nods and mutters of agreement from each shinobi glad in the stark black and white of the organization.

"We have a traitor."

Tension mounted swiftly in the air as AnBu stiffened and some growled. Kurai slid over with Katsuo to where Getsu was standing, mask in her hand. The blonde mouthed a greeting to the two and then returned to staring intently at her Kage.

"Who's the traitorous bastard?" one AnBu growled, fearsome in his badger mask. Inazuma looked like she was about to break from the strain and the revelation of treachery.

"Yuudoku Shizuka." People edged away and shot dirty glances at Katsuo, Kurai, and Getsu, as they were Shizuka's friends and team-mates.

Kurai felt as if her lungs had turned to ice. _Shizuka?_ No. She was among the most loyal and skilled medic ninjas she had ever known. How could Shizuka have betrayed them? It couldn't be true.

"What evidence against her is there?" Katsuo rumbled, glaring at those AnBu shuffling away from them.

"There has been suspicion, Mori, over the years." A peacock-masked woman said primly from the back of the room. "Shizuka Yuudoku has an unconfirmed past. We had only what she could tell us."

"Hey, Uta, wasn't it only two weeks ago that she sewed your thumb and pointer-finger back on?" Getsu sneered nastily. "Some training incident, wasn't it? Managed to cut off your own fingers?"

"Taku-" the peacock started to say angrily but Inazuma cut off their bickering.

"Shizuka Yuudoku _is _from Earth Country," The Raikage conceded. "Born in Iwagakure, in fact. Trained in the elitists' program before the fire about ten years back. Had dealings with the Akatsuki for years before finally joining at fifteen. The Tsuchikage can vouch for that. Apparently she and her partner, and orange-masked man called 'Tobi' tried to assassinate him."

"How do you know all this?" Kurai demanded. Inazuma held up a sheet of parchment covered in a precise and small hand: Shizuka's.

"The silly chit left a note. We have a situation on our hands, people. One of our finest has deserted us with village secrets. She _claims _she won't tell a soul… but she's Akatsuki. You can't trust _any _of those bastards. Every single one of them is an S-class criminal with a record, each labeled as 'kill on sight' in the Bingo Book!" her voice rose to a furious shout. "She betrayed us! I know she was a comrade to some of you, but _I want her dead or in chains!_" she roared.

Kurai ground her teeth, fangs digging in her lip. _Akatsuki. Hikaru's past group._ She thought wrathfully. _Shizuka, you bitch. How could you? Is that who your "Aniki" was? One of the Akatsuki?_

"Mori, Tora! As you've had dealings with the Akatsuki before, I want you to each pick out a squad. I will _personally _lead another one myself. She's dangerous, everyone. Most of you have served with her before. She possesses abilities- no, a _blood-limit- _that revolve around poison. She _is _poison, got it? Blood, skin, hair, whatever just don't touch her. Long distance weapons will work best. Make sure whatever you get her with has a protective coating of lead or whatever lethal thing the other medic-nins can brew up. Any of you get her blood on you or she touches you then _you are dead as hell._ Now, move, move, _move_!"

* * *

"_I can't believe she'd do that to us_," Getsu snarled to Kurai. She'd ended up on her team. The three other shinobi on her squad, including Uta, muttered in agreement. "When we find her I am kicking her traitor's ass up and down the mountains.

"Hey, Tora! Didn't Hikaru join Akatsuki?" the big badger-masked AnBu asked Kurai. She stiffened, leaping through the trees as the others followed her. Behind her mask, she fought back tears.

"Yes, she did," she answered, voice tight. "But that was years ago."

"Maybe she got Doku over to the dark-side," Uta snickered. A branch whipped back, cracking her on her bare shoulder.

"Sorry," Getsu said, but she didn't sound it.

"Doku was with Akatsuki before Hikaru," Kurai pointed out. "Raikage-sama said the letter said that she'd basically been raised by Akatsuki."

_"Yes, I do. Aniki was everything, you know? He taught me everything and he always worked so hard to come home in-between missions. I loved Aniki."_

Kurai scowled at the memory. It'd been ten months since then, but that simple statement had burned itself into her memory. She'd never heard Shizuka express much of an opinion of whether she liked something or not, but then she'd said as easily as breathing that she had loved her elder brother. _Damn it, Shizuka… why did you have to go back to them? You could've stayed with us. I don't care that you were with Them, but going back?_

* * *

The previous day….

"I'm sorry, Aniki," she told the little clay bird sitting on her windowsill, a red strip of cloth tied around its neck like a ribbon. "I can't stay here anymore. I've kept my contacts, but it's too much like Iwa." Her hair swung around her waist in a torrent of inky-blackness as she bustled about, going through her drawers and packing everything away in a valise.

Finally, Shizuka stood back to look out through the circular window high up in the wall. Rain pounded against the glass panes, rattling the frame. Her room was just a plain rented thing, the walls and ceiling basic white-wash and a simple closet built into the wall. A bed that was little more than a cot was against the wall underneath the window. She heaved a deep sigh and sat down on the hard mattress, leaning against the wall.

The clay bird shifted and watched her with an odd sort of intelligence. "I know what you said back then, Aniki," she said to the room at large. "But I just _can't_ be out, not right now. I… I can't stand it here." Her voice trailed off to a whisper. "I know it seems weak and pathetic, but Raikage-sama's already done so much for me. I thought the AnBu would be a good match, you know? Assassination and healing are what I know best and I thought it would be the same. But, the pay was better with you guys and…" she grinned crookedly, a strange expression on her usually blank face. "I want to wear the red clouds again."

She lifted up a few loose floorboards underneath her bed, revealing a concealed space. Reverently, she lifted out the black and red folded cloak within, running elegant fingers over the material. Trousers, spats, and a mesh-shirt lay underneath. Quickly, she threw her usual black turtleneck, shorts, and magenta dress into the wastebasket by the door, donning the other set of clothes.

She swung the cloak about her shoulders, feeling the familiar weight settle. Looking in the mirror she realized she'd forgotten something. "Oi, get down here!" she told the clay bird. It complied, perching on the top of the mirror. She whisked off its ribbon, using it to tie back her hair in a low ponytail. She blew her bangs irritably out of where her right eye should have been, instead showing a curious contraption that looked like a camera lens. "Hey there, Gaki," she said cheerfully, grinning at the unrecognizable young woman in the mirror. "Been a long time, hmm? I missed you. What did we forget? Oh, yes, cough it up." Shizuka held out her hand to the bird and it spat up a ring into her hand. She slid it onto her finger, the kanji "毒", "poison" painted onto the purple stone.

Finally, she picked up the Kumogakure hitai-ate off of her bed where it lay limply. With a fingernail glowing with chakra, she scored its metal surface right across the Cloud emblem. "I'm sorry, Aniki, Raikage-sama, everyone-" she tied it around her waist. "-but it's what I know. I need chaos, not this Iwa-like order."

And she was gone.

* * *

_Dear Raikage-sama,_

_Thank you for accepting me in your village. I'm afraid I must abuse your hospitality and leave._

_I am originally from Iwagakure and was born and raised to the elitists' program where they train children to feel nothing, only to follow orders and kill. My blood-limit made it crucial that they train me from the beginning, as I have no idea what happened to my mother or the rest of my clan. I am the last of the Yuudoku line. I was rescued from the training compound fire ten years ago by a member of the Akatsuki._

_Do not be prejudiced of all of the Akatsuki. I understand you knew Itachi-san years ago. My Aniki was an artist and a good person. He taught me all I know of jutsus. He took good care of me. When he died, I joined the Akatsuki at fifteen as I foolishly sought revenge against Aniki's killer. I tried to get revenge against the Tsuchikage as well for what his program did to us all when he burned it down. My partner and I did not succeed, but that particular Kage has a twitch and a permanent palsy to remember me by. But it is all in the past. I bear only a petty grudge and I hope you know that I will not betray any of your village secrets._

_I will look fondly upon these memories of Kumogakure,_

_Shizuka Yuudoku._

She glared at the note a final time before shredding it with her claws and sending it raining down like confetti. She laced her fingers together, resting her chin on them and staring broodingly into space. _You were a promising kunoichi, _she thought. _As promising as Kurai. You would've been a captain like Katsuo if you'd stuck with it. You stupid idiot. I will drag you back here with my own bare hands if I have to and you will meet justice._

* * *

Three weeks had passed with no sign of their prey. The AnBu were restless. No one had escaped them for that long when they had been on their trail merely hours after the treason.

--

"I _hate _this," Kurai snarled, slamming her fist into the trunk of a pine-tree. "I'm stuck going after some scaredy-bitch when I _could _be tracking down someone actually worth catching." She turned and leaned against the rough bark of the tree, eyes closed behind her mask. "It's crazy just how stupid this is."

"I dunno…" Katsuo said thoughtfully, pouring over their map. He had it laid out on a big table-shaped rock with pebbles weighing down the edges of the paper. "I kind of like being out here _all alone _with you."

His girlfriend pushed up her mask to give him a very _not _amused look. "Hardy har har," she said sarcastically. "You never quit, do you?"

"Come on, we've been going out for almost a year now. _And _I've known you since we were kids," He pointed out, one eyebrow higher than the other. It was just the two of them on the trail of their one-time friend. The sun was long-since hidden behind the clouds as they were in southern Lightning Country. The weather was renowned for being unpredictable in that region. "Why not just take that extra step?"

"Well I _beg _your pardon," Kurai began hotly, cheeks turning a dangerous shade of red. "I might have better things to do than think of _that_." Katsuo looked alarmed and started to say something but stopped. "I didn't know that _reproducing _was so important to you! You're a man. You don't have to worry about becoming _incapacitated _like that. I mean-" she planted her hands on her hips, face the exact same shade as an over-ripe tomato. "I'm a kunoichi! You know how hard it is to compete with you totally sexist males? Hmmmm? The only reason I haven't quit because of your gender's snide comments is because our very own Raikage is a woman. I don't need another person to look after _inside of me._ My god, what's wrong with you? I thought you were more sensi- what are you doing?"

It only took three swift strides for Katsuo to close the difference between them. He grabbed Kurai's shoulders and kissed her, refusing to let go when she tried to shrug away. "You over-react," he told her, gray eyes twinkling with amusement. Kurai looked at him, appalled and gulping like a fish. "I don't mean for _that_, goose. Karai Kurai, didn't you agree that one day you'd like to quit the AnBu and settle down and have a real family?"

"Well… if the right person came along…" Kurai muttered, blinking. "You're not… you're…?"

"I say we should get married."

Kurai's eyes bugged out and she began to babble. Katsuo silenced her with another kiss. "Do you only kiss me to shut me up?" she asked, slightly breathless.

"No. I kiss you for fun too," Katsuo grinned at her. A knowing, Cheshire-cat smile crept onto Kurai's face.

"What are you doing?" she asked slowly.

"I'm asking you to marry me," he explained, mock-patience in his voice.

"You know you'd have to go through my family," she pointed out, but her smile kept getting wider. "Asking for permission for my hand and all. I _do _belong to a very prestigious clan."

"Mmmhmm. Has anyone asked anyone for permission for _anyone's_ hand over there?" Katsuo asked, nose to nose with the striking kunoichi.

"Pfft. That'll be the day. I don't think Mother would be happy to know that her only daughter had gone off and gotten married without her permission."

"So… is that a yes?"

Kurai kissed Katsuo on the tip of his nose. "Of course."

* * *

A/N: FLUUUUUUFFFFFFFFF!! :O

Wow. It's been SOOO long since I last updated. I'm so sorry. School has more than made up for my lack of inspiration. –chains rattling-

I'd like some ideas as to how this should all end. I have another fanfiction in the queue (where Haruki, Suzume, and Megumi and the rest come back and we see a certain character ((or two)) again). Should the end be Katsuo's and Inazuma's death, or should it go on longer? I plan to write that part sooner or later, but I'd REALLY like to get the new fanfic up and running.

Shizuka was always a little lost after Aniki died. She bounced from profession to profession, spending time in the Akatsuki, Cloud, then the Akatsuki again. I can't even begin to impress upon you the tragedy of Shizuka's character.

And! Inazuma will have her own fanfic someday, never fear. I think it will be her younger days in the AnBu, and we'll see Itachi and Kakashi AND Orihime –cough- I mean –cough- Kushina and Minato in it.

So, that's it for now.

Ja, matane!


	5. Chapter 5: Epilogue

It was chilly in the Land of Clouds

They strolled along leisurely, hand-in-hand. No one gave them a second glance, just another shinobi couple on their day off. "What do you think Sensei's expression will be like?" Katsuo whispered in Kurai's ear, his breath raising goose bumps on her neck.

"I think she just may have a heart-attack. Or she'll kill you. _Or _she'll just thank you for taking her poor, beat up little niece as a wife."

They were dressed in their normal street clothes, minus the Torakiba yin-yang symbol on the back of Kurai's jacket. They both wore their jounin vests to blend in with the rest of the adult shinobi population. It'd been four weeks since they'd last been in Kumogakure. A simple gold ring glittered on Kurai's left hand and she constantly ran her thumb over it as if she couldn't believe that it was there.

"We also need to tell the rest of my family," Kurai said ruefully. "And _your _family. Haruka's been after you for a while to get married to a nice, sweet girl."

"But you're not exactly a nice, sweet girl, are you, Karai Kurai?" Katsuo asked. They exchanged wicked smiles.

"If you wanted that you should've gone after some merchant's daughter," she admonished, flicking the tip of his nose. "You could have a mild, meek little mouse that would make your meals and worry over you incessantly and try to keep you from being an AnBu."

She chortled at Katsuo's grimace. "I'm _so _sure that you'd want that."

"I'd rather have a tiger than a mouse, thanks all the same," he said, kissing the backs of her fingers. "And the AnBu was getting too tame, anyway."

"So married life and a honeymoon in Fire Country are wild enough for you?"

"Sweetheart, I think that it may almost be more than I can handle."

"I'd better go and soften up my mother, first," Kurai sighed as they got to the split in the main thoroughfare. One way lead to the Raikage's office, the other a quiet road going to the private residences. "But we should tell Sensei first, as Raikage. But Grandma is the head of the family and she would disown me if we didn't tell her first…"

"How 'bout we go separately and tell them each at the same time?" Katsuo suggested. "They're my family too, now, claws and all."

"Are you sure?" Kurai asked, looking up at him. "But-" Katsuo kissed her sweetly, arms winding around her waist and pulling her closer. Kurai gave into the fire that raced through her veins at his touch.

"You're worrying again," Katsuo said after they'd broken apart.

"And _you're _kissing me again to shut me up," Kurai retorted, but she didn't move her arms from around his neck.

"I'm sure Sensei will want to have a word with the family. I'll see you in an hour at the Torakiba home?"

"Of course."

They kissed again, as if it was their last. They walked as far as they could together before going their separate ways, holding on until the last step when their fingers escaped each other.

She strolled along in a rare good mood, savoring the crispness of the air. She even found the need to hum some silly tune or other, but fought it back. She did have her dignity, after all. What would people think if they saw a Torakiba _whistling_, of all things?

She stopped suddenly, ears pricked and claws sliding from their sheaths. She _knew _that scent; knew it like her own. She dreaded that nearly-silent footfall, that swish of cloak and hiss of claws. She lashed out, wrist caught against another's.

"So, Nee-san," Hikaru Torakiba purred, grinning at her sinisterly. "How've you been?"

"Hikaru!" Kurai breathed, paralyzed. Then wrath took hold. "How dare you show your face here again!" Her pupils shrank to tiny slits and her incisors lengthened to become fangs. She struck again but Hikaru danced away, seemingly unhindered by the long cloak she wore: black, patterned with red clouds and bordered in white.

"How's that for a greeting?" she asked, her exaggerated tone suggesting that she had been betrayed. "Now, now, sister dear. I've just come to see how you've been."

"Like hell you have." Kurai slid into an offensive Taijutsu stance, claws poised and head down. "I thought I told you to _never _show your ugly mug around here _ever again_. In fact, I believe I insisted upon that most forcefully."

"Oh, nothing could keep me away from my darling twin!" Hikaru cooed, leaping over the buildings in the direction of the pine woods.

"Don't turn tail and run just because I'm winning!" Kurai took chase. Hikaru suddenly spun around, making hand-signs. A great gust of fire blew right where the brunette Torakiba had been a split-second before. They met with a clang of kunai against kunai, Kurai grimacing in rage while Hikaru grinning at her foe and one-time sibling.

"You were always so full of that lovely rage and hate," Hikaru purred, standing on her toes to bear down upon her sister. Kurai stood firm, staring her right in the eye.

"And who made me so hateful and angry?" she snarled.

"Oh, dearie me. Did I hurt your precious feelings, Runt?" Hikaru leapt back, hands ready to form defensive seals. Kurai just stood there, actually looking disappointed.

"You haven't changed," she said quietly, almost sadly. "_At all_. We've all grown up, Hikaru, except for you. Childish insults won't work anymore as, quite obviously, I am no longer a runt."

Something boiled in the twisted miasma that was Hikaru's soul. Was that _pity _she heard in the bitch's voice? How dare she use such a tone. Some tiny part of Hikaru that wasn't quite as malice-ridden as the rest acknowledged that Kurai was right. Let bygones be bygones and leave the past to the past. Quit looking for revenge and grow the hell up. But how could she, when she had devoted her life to it?

"You ruined me!" Hikaru screamed, rage erupting out of her like lava out of a volcano. "The back-lash took me and even now I fall into madness!" She made hand-signs far faster than Kurai would have thought possible and disappeared into a miniature maelstrom of fire and spite.

Kurai turned tail and ran, running for all she was worth towards the Raikage tower. Sensei would know what to do. Sensei _always_ knew what to do...

* * *

_I'm sure you know what happened next. That was the last I saw of Katsuo alive. Hikaru came back and killed him and sensei, wearing my form and framing me. I got my vengeance soon after. But… that is another story. Please stick around for that, ne?_

* * *

Epilogue….

She leaned back on the front porch of the home of her ancestors, looking up from her journal. The cloudy afternoon sky was punctured here and there to allow sunshine to fall through like liquid gold. She rapped her knuckles against the wood of the porch distractedly, staring up into the sky.

"Mama!" a shrill voice cried. A little boy, about five, broke into a run when he saw her, a broad grin on his face. He wore the Torakiba yin-yang symbol on the front of his shirt. He shared his mother's amber cat's eyes but his face was his father's.

She smiled, swinging the small child up into her lap and planting a fat kiss on his cheek. He grimaced, wiping off the light lipstick imprint she'd left. "Ugh! I'm _five_, Mama."

"So you are," his mother responded mildly. "Is there something in particular you wanted besides telling me your age?"

"Kage-ji said you're Raikage now!" the boy bounced in his mother's lap, looking excitedly up into her face. "'zit true?"

"Oy! So the secret's out." His mother cried with mock grief.

"So you're gonna rule the village like Zuma-ba?" (Auntie Zuma ('Zuma' short for 'Inazuma'))

"Yes, I'm going to rule the village like Zuma-ba did before you were born. You know what being Raikage means?"

"What?"

The Raikage set her son down beside her on the porch and adopted a lecturing tone. "Being the Kage of any village, especially Kumogakure, means that I am the strongest shinobi here. That I am the best protector, that I will be reliable in an emergency, and that I will crush anyone who wants to harm us."

The little boy's mouth formed a perfect 'o' and his eyes grew wide. "So you're the best of the best?"

"That's right."

"Then… I want to be Raikage someday!" he said resolutely. "I'll be the best, too, you'll see! I can already cloud-walk."

"I'm sure you will be a very good Raikage someday," Kurai told him. "Katsuro Torakiba, the Hachidaime Raikage!" Katsuro nodded energetically, kicking his legs.

She watched him run off, going to see if his friends wanted to play at being Kages. She smiled slightly, eyes half-closed and enjoying the sunshine.

"Can you see him, Katsuo?" she murmured. "Can you see your son? Can you see how much he is like you?" She leaned back until she was lying down on the porch, gazing up at the sky. "Can you see me? Can you hear me? Can you feel how much I miss you, how much I need you?"

She reached up to touch the clouds, so near yet so far. "Can you feel how much I love you?" There was no answer, though she was not expecting one. She turned on her side and cushioned her head on her arms, hair out in a black fan around her head.

A Raikage needs to be strong; needs to be tough. A Raikage needs to be an awesome sight to behold. A Raikage needs to have power and wisdom. A Raikage must listen and must speak. A Raikage needs to bury her own personal feelings for the benefit of the whole. No one individual must stand out to them. The whole village must be his or her children.

Kurai stretched out like a cat. Sometimes, you could trust people who you have no relation to further than those who shared your blood. Sometimes, your friends were more family than those whose clan you were born into.

"Hey, Raikage-sama." She sat up, looking at the blonde woman who owned the voice. "Let's go."

"Getsu, it's still Kurai," she said wearily, standing up.

"Then I'll stop being Getsu and be Takumi again." The blonde said, grinning crookedly. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jounin vest. "Shall we?" The two friends went off down the road together, reminiscing of their old days and the memories that included those who could _only _live in their memories. Thinking of the two others that had once made up their little quartet.

The beloved Betrayer and the betrayed Beloved. Dying as they'd live:

as Shinobi.

* * *

AN: Oh my gawd it's finally over. –praises Kami- I kinda sorta hated this piece. I mean yaaaaaay Katsuo, Shizuka, and Getsu and all, but… rly. The ending sucks more than anything and I just want to get it out of my hair.

My apologies. Go check out my FullMetal alchemist page, then, kay-kay?


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